Mitchell tennis teams kick off season Friday

Unusually warm weather has allowed the Mitchell High School boys’ tennis team extra practice this spring.

“The tennis gods are smiling on us,” head coach Pat Moller said Thursday.

The team, which kicks off its season against St. Thomas More at 4 p.m. today, has been taking full ad-vantage of the warm weather in the past couple of weeks.

“It’s been a spectacular spring so far,” Moller said. “The weather’s been great, and we’re definitely ready for a match. It’s been rare to get this early match in because of weather in past years, but this time we have a good idea of where we’re at going into this match.”

There are a lot of new faces on the team this season. This is Moller’s first year as the boys’ varsity tennis head coach. He replaced Gayle Klein, who retired last year. Moller is also the head girls’ coach.

The team is also without Tyler Osterloo and Jesse Gebel their No. 1 and No. 2 players from last year.

Moller said the team is extremely young, and there has been a lot of adjusting while everyone gets used to each other. He thinks the Kernels will be the only team in the state with their No. 1 and No. 2 players as freshmen.

Jacob Cersosimo will be the team’s No. 1 player and Beau Brown will be in the No. 2 spot going into the season.

Taylor Moore, the lone senior, is sitting at the No. 3 spot.

“It’s been very competitive between those three in the preseason,” Moller said. “The younger guys beat Moore out but he’s a good leader, and he keeps the younger kids grounded for us. He’s a great role model.”

Kanin Nelson, an eighth-grader, Tate Crago, a junior, and Alex Hegg, also an eighth-grader, will round out the varsity singles roster this season.

Moller said despite the team’s youth, he’s expecting good things from all of his players, especially with the extra practice they’ve been able to get in due to the unseasonably warm weather.

“I’m not going to let this team use their youth as an excuse,” Moller said. “I expect them to be successful, and I know they expect themselves to be successful.”

Mohr and Crago will be the No. 1 doubles team, Cersosimo and Brown will be the No. 2 doubles team and Nelson and Brenden Lehr are sitting at the No. 3 spot.

Moller said the team is excited for today’s match.

“With the weather and extra practice we’ve been able to get in, I definitely think it could give us an ad-vantage over a veteran team that maybe doesn’t need to practice as much,” Moller said.

Moller said he hasn’t set any specific goals for the team this season, but he’s seen a lot of improvement over the offseason.

“I want to win,” Moller said. “That’s my goal.”

Tags: sports, kernels, tennis, updates